American Atheists has filed a lawsuit to prevent the World Trade Center cross from being included in a September 11 memorial in New York. The memorial will be funded by the government and run by the Port Authority, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit names many defendants, including the state of New Jersey, the city of New York , New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
The World Trade Center cross, two intersecting steel beams that held up when the twin towers collapsed on September 11, 2001, is seen as iconic to some.
The cross was moved Saturday from near a church to its new home at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. There was also ceremonial blessing of the cross in a service led by Father Brian Jordan, a Franciscan monk who ministered to workers clearing the area after the 9/11 attacks.
You can read the complaint here. Below is a snippet:
The challenged cross constitutes an unlawful attempt to promote a specific religion on government land, diminishing the civil rights, privileges or capacities of atheist Americans, agnostic Americans, Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, and all others who are not Christian Americans. Because the challenged cross promotes Christianity over all other religions, it also denies non-Christian Americans equal protection under the laws of the land. As such, the challenged cross is repugnant to the Constitution of the United States.
